No. 5 North Carolina baseball team dominates UMass Lowell in doubleheader

As the sun shined on fans at Boshamer Stadium on Saturday, the No. 5 North Carolina baseball team’s bats warmed up as well. Both its offense and stellar starting pitching performances propelled UNC to two victories over UMass Lowell in a doubleheader. 

North Carolina won the first game, 5-0, and secured their first shutout of the season thus far.  In the second game, North Carolina won, 14-7. 

The Tar Heels (10-1) had control of the game right from the start. Their offense surged in the second inning when Jackson Hesterlee hit a solo home run over the right field wall. From that moment on, the North Carolina offense continued to find its grove.   

“I got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it," Hesterlee said. "It was good to get the first one out of the way.” 

Throughout the game, five Tar Heels had at least two hits and the team combined for 12 total hits. The hit leader was junior Ike Freeman, who had three hits, and two runs batted in. In addition to the fast North Carolina offense, its pitching staff got off to a fast start as well.  

Ace Gianluca Dalatri, who started the first game, pitched 7.1 innings and only gave up two hits. This was the second time in three appearances that Dalatri has gone seven innings. 

Once the junior right hander exited the game, sophomores Caden O’Brien and Ben Casparius took over right where he left off. They combined to pitch 1.2 innings and gave up no hits. 

North Carolina continued to thrive in the second game of the double header, which UNC won, 14-7.

Junior Tyler Baum took the mound and kept the UMass Lowell offense quiet from the start. He struck out nine hitters and gave up four hits and one unearned run in six innings. 

“The keys to both games was our pitching,” head coach Mike Fox said. “I thought Luca (Dalatri) and Tyler (Baum) were terrific. Any time you get two good starts like that you have a chance to win.” 

With Baum’s dominance on the hill, the North Carolina offense kept up its pace. 

In the bottom of the first inning, left fielder Michael Busch hit a two-run home run over the right field wall. That was Busch’s third home run of the season, and it gave his team an early 2-0 lead. In the second inning, North Carolina came alive, scoring seven more runs and increasing its lead to 9-0. 

“I think hitting is contagious," first-year Caleb Roberts said. 

However, the hit parade did not stop there. 

North Carolina added four more runs to its lead in the third inning. Through three innings, the Tar Heels led, 13-0. UMass Lowell did record its first hit of the game until the fourth inning.  

“It was nice to see us get out to a big lead in game two,” Fox said. “Again, get some guys off the bench. We had a couple guys have really good days. We took advantage of some walks, but our middle of the order did some damage.” 

In the explosive offensive showing by the Tar Heels, two first-years, Tom Caufield and Will Schroeder, recorded their first career collegiate hits. 

After six innings, Baum left the game and first-years Nik Pry and Connor Ollio, along with redshirt senior Hansen Butler, took over. Those three pitchers gave up a combined six runs and five hits. Even though, the Tar Heels gave up seven runs, their offense secured the victory. 

With 14 runs, the Tar Heels tied a season high previously set against Xavier. 

“Today we just carried over what we did versus VCU,” Roberts said. “We did not really change much. We barreled a lot of balls and got in good hitters' counts, so we were just seeing the ball good and putting good swings on it.” 

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